Analytics, mobile apps are hot, hot, hot

Network World - It's clear by the increasing use of analytics software that companies are struggling to get their hands around the huge amounts of data it takes to run a successful business. But developing social, mobile, cloud computing and other applications are also driving the need for new technical skills.

Those were some of the key trends found in IBM's 2011 Tech Trends Report released this week that surveyed 4,000 IT professionals from 93 countries and 25 industries to garner their views on future IT trends.

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Increasing use of business analytics was the key trend as the study found the software is being incorporated in almost every business process within organizations. IBM said 42% of respondents named it as an "in demand" area for software development and as having the highest adoption tendency (90%) when compared with other technology areas. Developers who want to grow their skills should take note that 87% of respondents cite open source platforms such as Apache Hadoop and Linux as playing a key role in the future of this application development," IBM said.

The survey found that half of those not currently using analytics plan to within the next 24 months, to increase automation, streamline processes and do more with less in faster time.

There are concerns though. IBM found that two-thirds of respondents reported a less than 50% increase in the amount of business analytics work in their organizations over the past year, saying they are concerned about difficulties when integrating sophisticated analytics capabilities into existing technology and in educating people on how to make the most of what analytics software finds.

Integrating business analytics into an existing deployed infrastructure ranks as the most common concern when considering new services, but training, performance and cost are close behind, IBM states.

Some other interesting facts from the report:

MOBILE:

Developers looking to increase their mobile skills would be smart to look to Android. With its large and growing global install base, Android is ranked as being the top mobile platform over the next 24 months. This open source platform based on Java and XML offers a much shorter learning curve, and this contributes to its popularity with IT professionals. Apple's iOS remains strong in the US and other developed countries.

Mobile computing has a high level of penetration, with three in four survey respondents currently working in mobile computing, growing to 85% within the next two years. Respondents see enterprise and industry-specific applications as top areas for adoption within 24 months, with extending mobile capabilities to existing core applications close behind.